


there's something beautiful in the flaws (in all we are)

by EastOfEll



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Other, eliza is the savior of the lgbts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2019-01-23 10:45:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12505640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EastOfEll/pseuds/EastOfEll
Summary: instead of maggie going after her father when he leaves the bridal shower, it's eliza.eliza defending her family with a dash of sanvers.





	there's something beautiful in the flaws (in all we are)

**Author's Note:**

> this is, technically, my third fix it fic for 3x03, which says a lot about that episode, i think. anyway, alex and maggie are in love and eliza danvers uses her words to bodyslam naysayers into the ground.
> 
> my tumblr is sapphics and my twitter is nblesbian if you wanna come tell me i need to stop writing 3x03 fix it fics

 

If the Guinness Book of World Records had a section for the best lesbian bridal shower planner, Eliza Danvers knows her picture would be under its title.

 

Pardon the language, but she worked _really_ fucking hard to make sure her daughters (yes, _plural_ , even with her alien daughter fighting crime on another planet, she still had two here on Earth) had the best shower one could offer. And so far, everything was going incredibly smoothly.

 

That never happens.

 

Maggie grins as she opens the envelope stuck to the first gift and a cute sketch of a bonsai tree graces its cover. “Oh, I think I know who this is from!” There’s a titter that goes through the guests, and with the ribbons clutched in her fingers, Maggie looks softly into her fiancee’s eyes. “Alex, before I open this…. I want you to know that you are the greatest gift I could receive.”

 

“I love you,” Alex says, and Eliza’s heart constricts because she’s able to say it so _freely_. Ever since Jeremiah had disappeared, Alex had an incredibly short list of people she cared about, and Eliza knows that she didn’t do the best in making sure Alex knows Eliza loves her.

 

(42 year old Eliza had taken her anger, exhaustion, and stress out on several people, but she regrets it the most with someone who had been too young to process human emotion at that depth. Eliza regrets what happens, tries to make it up with big hugs and homecooked meals and extravagant parties, and Eliza _knows_ Alex knows she’s trying to make up for lost time. Sometimes she wonders if Alex thinks she’s pathetic for wanting to baby her adult daughter, if Alex thinks she’s too old for that kind of treatment, but every time Alex is able to muster up a genuine smile and the same brown eyes Eliza fell in love with on someone else entirely _shine_ , she knows she may not be the perfect mother, but she tries her best every day to let Alex know she’s the perfect daughter.)

 

Alex and Maggie lean in to kiss and Eliza hears a huff of irritation behind her. Everyone does, and Maggie leans away only to see the back of her father storming out of the apartment.

 

Eliza can see several emotions cross Maggie’s face, none of them what she deserves, and as the woman starts to stand up, Eliza rushes over and places a soft hand on her shoulder.

 

“No,” Eliza says. “Let me.”

 

She struts out of the apartment, shutting the swinging door behind her, the image of the obvious hurt in Maggie’s eyes burned into her brain. It only fueled her fire. Seeing the figure of Maggie’s father just before he’s about to go down the first flight of stairs, she calls out, “Leaving so soon? I never even caught your name.”

 

“It’s Oscar,” he grunts. “Oscar Rodas.”

 

“Well, Mister Rodas,” Eliza says. “We’re sitting in the middle of an apartment hallway because you felt the need to leave your daughter’s bridal shower. Might I ask why?”

 

“You can’t tell?” The man laughs, no joy in his tone. “She kisses another woman as if there’s nothing wrong with it―”

 

“There isn’t.”

 

“―how can you knowingly support that?”

 

“Support two people being in love?” Eliza asks. “How can you have such a problem with it?”

 

“I worked hard to make sure my daughter didn’t receive any sort of discrimination like I did, and she threw it all away!” His arms fling out in frustration. “She went and made herself a homosexual― she _spits_ in my face!”

 

“Children never turn out the way we expect them to. That’s the first lesson of being a parent.” Eliza crosses her arms. “And Maggie didn’t _choose_ to be anything; she just is. All she needed was your support, and instead you sent her to her aunt’s with only a suitcase?”

 

“Oh,” he scoffs, “so I bet she told you _her_ side of the story.”

 

“I don’t need to hear your excuses to know you kicked your fourteen year old daughter out of the house only because she loved differently than you do,” Eliza says. “How can you wake up every day knowing what you did?”

 

“She was fine with her aunt,” Maggie’s father says. “I’m not perfect, but I did what I had to. You’re a parent. You should understand.”

 

“I know what it’s like to not be perfect parent. _That_ I understand.” Eliza takes a deep breath. “There were things I would say to Alex when she was a teenager because my husband was presumed dead, and I was mourning. There are expectations I had for her that I probably shouldn’t have had. I go to bed every night wishing I would have done things differently. I atone. I atone and I do more than I should when my daughter is a fully grown, capable woman because I feel it’s my fault there are insecurities that keep her up at night. They keep me up, too. But that’s the difference between you and me. While I work tirelessly to make up for half the damage I did, you sat halfway across the country thinking you had done nothing wrong.

 

Teenagers are sponges, Mister Rodas. They internalize everything they’re told, especially about themselves. What do you think you told Maggie when she said she was shameful and then disowned her? How long do you think it took for her to build up any sort of confidence back? You’ve made mistakes, yes, but what you did was no mistake. You left your daughter alone; you abandoned her. That’s something no parent should even _want_ to do unless they’re six feet under. _That’s_ what I don’t understand.”

 

“She’s fine now,” the man mutters.

 

“No thanks to you,” Eliza snaps. “That beautiful, intelligent, inspiring, and compassionate woman sitting in that apartment with the love of her life is the result of the trauma _you_ caused her. She’s only confident because she’s had to fight every demon you created that night telling her otherwise.”

 

“There’s also an entire world telling her she doesn’t belong!”

 

“The world is not in harmony, but it’s completely different than what it was in our generation. She called you because she had faith you had come to realize that. I can only apologize for my daughter and myself for giving her the idea to do so to begin with.”

 

“Well, I’m sorry, but I can’t do it,” Maggie’s father says. “She can live any way she pleases, but I don’t want anyone asking me to witness it.”

 

“That’s okay.” Eliza sighs, unfurling her arms and letting them rest at her side. “I’ve been a doctor for over twenty years. I’m used to taking a man’s job and doing it at least twice as better as him. If you don’t want to be here, we won’t force your company. And you may not want to be there for your daughter, but I’ll sure as hell be there for her― for _mine_.” Eliza pauses, giving Oscar Rodas a glare that most people inside the apartment would say is Alex’s signature glare, not knowing she got the glare from her mother. “Good day.”

 

When the crown of Oscar Rodas’s head disappears below the stairs, Eliza walks back and opens the door only for the brides-to-be to quickly back away and try to look innocent. The rest of the guests are in the back of the living room, playing some of the party games or mingling, but making sure to keep their distance. Though, Eliza can see Winn and James both giving concerned sideway glances every minute or so.

 

“We just wanted to make sure you were okay!” Alex defends immediately. “It was Maggie’s idea.”

 

Instead of coming up with a retort like she usually would, Maggie looks at Eliza with big, doe eyes. Her voice is soft, almost unbelieving as she asks, “Did you… did you really mean that? What you said?”

 

“How much did you hear?”

 

“Not a lot,” Alex says right as Maggie answers with, “Most of it.”

 

Eliza smiles. “I meant every word.”

 

“Oh,” Maggie says, and Alex brings her into a sideways hug; Maggie naturally rests her head on Alex’s shoulder.

 

“C’mon, Mom,” Alex says, and Eliza joins the hug. After a pause, Alex whispers, “You know I forgive you, right? We had our differences, but I’m not mad anymore. I promise.”

 

“Oh, darling.” Eliza breaks the group hug to rub Alex’s back. “It’s not as much as _you_ forgiving me as it is me forgiving myself. You’ll understand when you’re a mother.”

 

Both women freeze, and Eliza draws her eyebrows together. “Did I say something?”

 

“Maggie doesn’t really want kids,” Alex rushes out, but her next words are said more carefully. “And… I was upset, at first. There was even a secret part of me hoping that Maggie’s dad would turn out to have changed and Maggie may realize she wanted to be a parent, too.” When Maggie opens her mouth, Alex holds up a hand. “Wait. The instant I had that thought, I threw it away, okay? I’ve come to understand… that there’s no real reason you don’t want kids, just like there’s no real reason I _do_. And I’m okay with that, alright? That real, full, happy life you told me I deserved all those months ago? I don’t need kids… I just need you.”

 

Eliza nods. “I won’t say that again, then.”

 

And Maggie’s eyes shine. “Okay, Danvers. All good?”

 

“All good… but just you wait a few months.” Alex gives a grin so big her eyes close. “It’ll be Danvers-Sawyer.”

 

“Wait… Danvers-Sawyer? No way. It’s gonna be Sawyer-Danvers.”

 

“Danvers-Sawyer is in alphabetical order.”

 

“Danvers-Sawyer has a double ‘s’ sound! It’s annoying!”

 

“Okay, you two. The bickering married couple shouldn’t start until _after_ the honeymoon phase.” Eliza winks, and she can hear the “ _Mooooom_ ” in Alex’s screaming eyes as the tips of her ears turn red. “Now, if you excuse me, I have guests to entertain.”


End file.
